Hi all and welcome to another Simpsons on Sundays post. First of all, the shocking death of Irish singer Sinead O’Connor. She passed away on Wednesday, age 56 and to my knowledge, I don’t think she ever has guest starred on the Simpsons, or has anything to do with the series. Although, Prince did write one of her biggest hits And he almost guest starred during Season five, but that’s another story all together. Anyway, a number of people have paid tribute to her as you will see in this link. https://ultimateclassicrock.com/sinead-oconnor-dead-tributes-reactions/?fbclid=IwAR0J1-gtH6Klod2thppodUP1tc0gl6dzSIWgCAhq9rLUO5TRHLyXMKyRTKs_aem_AcR89XuEpATLy5lJp2uPH2pXkXHL5X5rR4IevCG9ER4CjcOvm3F-FSXwilzr31a53aQ
We have another passing which is closer to The Simpsons in that Randy Meisner bassist of The Eagles has also join the choir invisible on Wednesday, at the age of 77. He died of complications from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. There ar a number of references to the band in The Simpsons from Season 1 to today, with the episode Life In the Fast Lane (also the name of an Eagles song) to a version of In The City. Yes, I know you have heard the song somewhere and to prove it, here you go. RIP to both musicians. https://youtu.be/J39LK_wDzKw
On the birthday front, Sir Mick Jagger turned 80 years old on Wednesday. Of course, he is out touring with the Rolling Stones and as far as I know, has not tested positive for COVID-19 as of late since June 2022.
Roger Taylor of Queen also turned another year older on Wednesday and here is one of my favourite of his solo songs from his second album Strange Frontier, because it is a single and has Brian may of Queen on it as well. https://youtu.be/YttrKkyVKyc
This week it’s another Simpsons Sabbatical post and again, on another band who probably haven’t a chance to be heard on The Simpsons, but I don’t give a shit. It is Sevendust and if you haven’t heard their music, you should. They are a metal band, but the singer is actually a singer, who has a strong emphasis on melody and every song has that, including their debut album from 1997. To get you started, I have two videos I want to share with you going over the history of the band. First, let’s clear up some Wikipedia fact or fiction. https://youtu.be/VOSHNZBNYVg
Now, let’s hear about the entire history of the band from a channel I watch every weekday, with new videos usually at 10:00 AM ET. https://youtu.be/VJMFOZRxnOM
Okay, let’s talk about the band from my perspective as a fan and hear some great music from the guys. First, let’s remind ourselves that the current lineup of Sevendust consists of: singer Lajon Witherspoon, guitarists Clint Lowery and John Connolly also singing background vocals from time to time. Clint sings lead once in a while on a song or two. Drummer Morgan Rose also sings backing vocals and does higher screams and rounding out the gang is bassist Vince Hornsby, given the nickname of Boss.. I believe that I had mentioned that in my post on Radio Bart in January 2022! Anyway, let us not forget about Sonny Mayo and his stint in the band before Clint returned in 2008, after his nearly 4 year absence. Here is the first single that Sevendust ever released and it also starts off their debut album. https://youtu.be/Tp-rq_XvYX4
The debut album came out on April 15th 1997 between The Canine Mutiny and The Old Man and the Lisa. It went gold and it was certainly a good starting point for the band. Next, Home came out in August 1999, which also did well and has a number of classics. https://youtu.be/_PcDBxwNS2g
Here is another Sevendust classic off of the Home album and it is a little different in that Lajon gets to stretch out a bit vocally and there is more texture to this song. https://tyoutu.be/Ltj4d9DVxG8
During the summer of 1999, they had also participated in Woodstock 1999 and I believe that they were given the shaft, as they had to follow up Limp Bizkit on the Sunday and they didn’t get the attention they deserved, thanks to Fred Durst getting the crowd stirred up during Limp Bizkit’s set and it making news, because of all that had happened. That concert alone is probably the only connection to The Simpsons, unless you count Metallica also playing on the same night as Bizkit. However, Metallica, Sevendust and future Simpsons guest star Kid Rock did a New Year’s Eve concert in Rome Michigan, during New Year’s Eve 1999 before Y2K. Of course, Sevendust loves Metallica and why not? Years later, Metallica would guest star on The Simpsons and so, there’s the connection. Also, Sevendust were part of a tour called Tattoo The Earth and it had such bands on it as: Hatebreed, Slipknot, Sepultura, Slayer, Nothingface, Hed PE, Nashville Pussy, Mudvayne, The Workhorse Movement and many other bands. It was made into an album in October 2000 and most of the bands including Slipknot and Sevendust had more than one song on the CD.
November 13th 2001 saw the release of Sevendust’s 3rd album Animosity, between The Parent Rap and Homer the Moe and it had a number of fan favourites including the ballad Angel’s Son, which was the first acoustic song for the band. It was also written as a tribute to Lynn Strait of Snot and had appeared on the 2000 album Strait Up and was recorded again, because Morgan couldn’t find the album anywhere, according to a radio interview he had done in the summer of 2001. The rest of the album is heavy, but also more melodic. Here is that song I was just talking about and if you are a fan, you know it. Right? https://youtu.be/OS-zksmQx44
Seasons came out on October 7th 2003, with Enemy being the big song. This was even more commercial sounding and unfortunately, it did not work. However, Enemy was one of the best songs off of this album, even if I like the whole thing. https://youtu.be/8MCGXhkDNP4
In 2004, Clint left the band and that is where things went south, like the video about the band had said, with Next not getting a fair shake with most fans not knowing that it was even out. I didn’t know and I also had no idea, that there was also a Greatest Hits package available and I had purchased it a couple years later, before I knew what had happened. In fact, I didn’t even learn what went on until Christmas 2007 when I had purchased Retrospective, Vol. 2, which I believe was a follow up to the DVD of the same name, but its first volume. I had watched the DVD and listened to the CD and learned that Sonny Mayo had joined, but I had no idea why Clint had departed, other than joining his brother Corey’s band Dark New Day. Clint would return in 2008 and the lineup has been the same ever since.
I first heard the song Black in early 1998 and it didn’t grab me at first, despite that I like melody and that would change in coming years, as it grew on me. I purchased Home first in 2000 and the debut next, then Animosity and Seasons, with the 2007 album Alpha becoming a part of my CD collection in March 2007, on a bitterly cold day in Pary Sound Ontario. I just wanted to skip town for a bit and I got home safely. The last album I had bought on CD by Sevendust or any band was 2014s Time Travelers & Bonfires and then in 2022, I would purchase everything on iTunes for my phone.
Now, the new album Truth Killer is out and it’s quite good for a band with 14 albums under their belt and whose members are all in their 50s. They sound incredible and I can’t wait to hear what they come up with in the future and what it will sound like. I also am curious what pranks they may come up with in the future, as Morgan had a great character he had turned into during the sessions for Seasons called Pete. He is a record label guy in artist and repertoire and Pete is a prick, unlike Morgan who seems like a nice dude. The band pulled a prank on their bus driver in 2003 and it’s fucking hilarious and it appeared on the bonus DVD for Seasons. This beats any of the prank calls from Bart to Moe’s by a long shot, or even any pranks Bart has played on Skinner or the rest of Springfield, in that it is actually funny and nobody got hurt. Besides, I get to hear the sound of Sevendust’s tour bus moving and idling. https://youtu.be/88nggVYN1MU
I know I have skipped a lot of their music, but that’s where you need to do some homework, if you are in anyway interested in the band after what I have given you here. However, I will do some catching up on album releases as it relates to Simpsons episodes. Next came out on October 11th 2005 between Milhouse of Sand and Fog and Treehouse Of Horror XVI, Alpha was released on March 6th 2007 between Yokel Chords and Rome-Old and Juli, Chapter VII: Hope & Sorrow came on April 1, 2008 between Smoke On the Daughter and Papa Don’t Leech, Cold Day Memory had frozen the world into position on April 20th 2010 between Chief of Hearts and The Squirt & the Whale, Black Out The Sun saw the light of day on March 26th 2013 between Dark Knight Court and What Animated Women Want, Time Travelers & Bonfires began to move units on April 15th 2014 between Days of Future Future and What to Expect When Bart’s Expecting, Kill The Flaw had started its murderous rampage on October 2nd 2015 between Every Man’s Dream and ‘Cue Detective, All I See Is War began firing with all guns blazing on May 11th 2018 between Left Behind and Throw Grampa from the Dane and Blood & Stone came on October 23rd 2020 between Now Museum, Now You Don’t and Treehouse of Horror XXXI. I haven’t forgotten about Truth Killer, revealing itself yesterday, but it is in between seasons. Anyway, I hope that I have sparked interest in their music from not just listeners of metal, but also those who like other kinds of music. I also hope that if you can, you can go see Sevendust live and maybe, purchase any merch. Of course, please purchase their music, rather than just stream and I hope that you will do that for me, as well as the band. Okay? As a good starting point, I would purchase Best Of (Chapter One 1997-2004) which has all of what I have inserted here and more. There is a live acoustic album called Southside Double-Wide Acoustic Live which also came out in 2004. It’s good and one other compilation out there is Retrospective, Vol. 2 which has music from 2005 to 2007, with Sonny Mayo and mostly live stuff. Otherwise, there are the studio albums and you can find them in all of the links below. Here is their Wikipedia article and I will give you links to their music, for Apple Music and Youtube Music below. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sevendust
Next week will be on a band from Chicago, who have a singer who is also 50 years old, like me as of March 13th. I had also mentioned them in other posts and I will go over that too.
Simpsons on Sundays 